Amusement device



Sept. 21, 1926.

B. M. MARQUIS AMUSEMENT DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 10, 1926ATTORNEY-2 Sept. 21 1926.

. 1,600,554 B. M. MARQUIS v AMUSEMENT DEVICE Filed Feb. 10, 1925 2Sheets-Sheet 2 m; ATTORNEYJ.

. setting are Patented Sept. 21, 1926.

UNITED STATES BERNICE MAUD MARQUIS, 0F FOREST HILLS, NEW YORK.

AMUSEMENT nlivron.

Application filed February 10, 1926. Serial No. 87,203.

This invention relates to amusement .devices and more particularly totoy theatres in which the performing characters are f sionalsrorby'persons who have. interested themselves particularly in creating thatkind of amusement. This is mainly due to the fact-that themarionette'iigures ha've'been' diflicult to obtain'and expensive toproduce and elaboratesettings have been necessary to produce the propereffect. For such reasons as these the marionettel form of amusement hasnot. been readily'available to the general public and has not beenprovided in such form that it was adapted forflhome' use. The principalobject of the invention is to make the marionette form of amusementreadily available tow the general public and readily availablefor useand entertainment inthehome. I Another object of the invention is toprovide an improved toy theatre of the knock down type, in which theperforming characters or figures and all of'the parts neces' sary forthe construction of a complete stage furnished in the form of aselfcontained portable packa e. I

A-further object of the inventionis to provide a toy theatre ofjtheknock-down type in the form of a portable containeradapted to containthe performing characters or figures and all of the necessary parts fromwhich a stage setting maybe constructed, parts of the container itselfbeing employed in the construction of the stage setting. j 7 Variousother objects of the invention'will appear hereinafter. I

One form of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings,in Which Fig. 1 is a perspective. view of the container for housing thefigures and all parts from which the toy theatre may .beconstructed,rand which itself constitutes apart of the assembledtheatre;

Fig. 2 is a perspectiveview illustrating the manner inwhic'h theproscenium, arch for the stage is assembled; A

Figs. 3 and at are front elevations showing the configuration of certaintypes'ofscenery which may be employed; i

5 is a detail sectional view illustrating the manner in which thescenery is supported on the stage; Fig. 6 is a front elevation of theassembled theatre; and I Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the assembleditheatre.

Referring firstto the toytheatre includes a box or container shown at 1made of any'suitable material suchv as' wood, stiff cardboard orthelike. Thezcontainer 1- is preferably provided with a handle 2 or anyother suitable means of carrying it from one place to another. One sideofthe container is in the form of a hinged cover, 3 which normally maybeheld closed by any suitable type of fastening means such as the hooks 4on the body. portion of the container adapted toengage with pins 5 onthe cover. One part ofthe, interior ofthe container 1 is divided ,intoaplurality of compartments 6 by means "of Figs. 1 to 5 inclusivesuitablepartitions 7. Thesecompartments r are adapted to receive themarionette figures or} characters. The partitions 7' areso ar rangedinthe container 1 as to provide an additional compartment 8 .adaptedtoreceive various parts employed in setting up thedevice. such as thejstructuralparts of the proscenium arch and any nuts, bolts and the likewhich are required to secure it inplace. I As shown ,inFig. 1 thecover-3isadapted to move down to a' substantial horizontal position andin this position it constitutes the floor ofthe stage. Near its. r-earedge it is provi'ded with a plurality of projections 9 of wood orthelike which extend across substantially I the entire face .of thecover. These pro ect1ons rorm between them a series of grooves 10 whichmay receive one ormore pieces 'of scenery adapted to [constitute thebackground of the stage setting as herein after described. In front ofthe projections Q there' may be several additional sets of projectionsllformin'g between them grooves '12 adapted to support additionalsceiiery'i'n theforin of side wingsfwhich: donot extend entirelyI acrossthestage.

The parts froniwhi'ch theprosceniuin' arch may be constructed are shownin Fig.

2. .These parts preferably comprise two upright side'members l3 and iseach of which carries near its lower end a bracket 15. Each bracket 15has a horizontally disposed leg 16 provided with openings 17. Theseopenings are adapted to slip over the projecting ends of bolts 18secured in blocks 19 mounted nearthe forward corners of the cover 3 asshown in Fig. 1;. Wing nuts 20 may be employed to clamp the brackets inplace. The upper end of each of the uprights 13 and let is provided withone or more pins 21 adapted to slip in corresponding openings in theends of the top cr oss piece 22 01 thearch. The rear face of the crosspiece 22 may be provided with a rod 23 on which oneor more curtains 24(Fig. .7 may be suspended. V p

When not in use all parts necessary for constructing the toy theatre arecontained in and housed by the box 1, the marionettes beingpositioned inthe compartments 6 and certain other parts, such as the parts of theproscenium arch, are contained inthe com part nent8. The scenery whichmay he in the form of one-or more background pieces 25 (Fig. 3) and anydesired numberof wing pieces 26 (F may be laid {down flat over thecompartments :6 and ,8, there being a special clearance provided betweenthe edges of the partitions 7 and the inner face of the cover 3 toreceive the scenery when the cover 3 is closed. If desired, severaldifferent sets of scenery may be furnished from which difi erent stagesettings may be produced.

hen it is desired to use the toy theatre the container 1 is placed onthe floor or on a table and the cover 3 is opened. The pro' scenium archis then. assembled in the her described above. In its assembled condition it will appear as shown in Figs. 6 and .7.- The necessarybackground pieces 25 are then positioned in the grooves lOof theprojections 9, as shown in Figs. 5 and 7', and the appropriate wingpieces 26 are positioned in the grooves12 of the projections 11. [Acurtain 27 (Fig. 6) may be placed in front of the entire device toconceal everything but the proscenium arch and the stage setting andthis curtain may be used to conceal the person manipulating themarionettes. If it be desired to interrupt apart of the oblique visionthrough the proscenium arch, side pieces 28 of suitable scenery (Fig.7)may be positioned as indicated in this figure and for this'purposeprojections 29 may be provided on the cover 3' adjacent to the blocks 19as shown in Fig. 1, so as to form between each .b1ock 19 and thecorresponding projection 29 a groove for receiving the lower edge'of oneof the side pieces 28.

Fig. 6 shows a complete stage setting with two marionette figuresrepresented at 30.

'They may be'manipulated in the usual manner by means o fc'ords orstrings '31. H It will now be seen that the entire device is portableand self-contained. The box 1 con tains all the parts necessary for theerection of a toy theatre and one or more complete stage settings andalso contains a set of marion'ettes. It will also be noted that thecontainer 1 also forms a structural part of the theatre itself, thecover 3 being used for the floor o f the stage and being provided withvarious parts for supporting the proscenium arch and the scenery. Themarionettes maybe designed to represent certain characters and ifdesired a book or pamphlet maybe provided in the container 1 settingforth instructions for erecting the toy theatre and for manipulating themarionettes,

and containing a story to be reproduced by the marionettes. Themarioneaes, for instan'c'e, may be Mother Goose characters and theljoolr may contain a Mother Goose story to be reproduced by theinarionettes. The eiitire device is in the form of an article ofmanufacture which may be soldfa's' acom plete unit. In this way completeamuseneiit device of the marionette type becomes available to thegeneral public for home use because it may be conveniently purchased ata reasonable price and it is so designed to be capable of use in thehome either by children or adults.

A toy theatre comprising a container, a cover therefor adaptedtoconstitute the floor of the stage, scenic pieces adapted to be housed bysaid container, a knock-downarch adapted to be housed by saidmnfiaine'r, me ns on i ove f r suppo ting and ceni Pi ces, and me a c td w h. Sai gcycr for supporting the arch when assemolf said arch, aplurality of scenic pieces, said container having a spa'ceto receive andhouse said scenic pieces, a cover associated with said container adaptedwhen opened "to constitute the 11001- of the stage, means on said coverforsupporting said scenic pieces and means on the cover for supportingsaid arch when assembled. I j

3 A toy theatre comprising afjcon'tainer, a plurality of compartmentstherein ada'pted to receive and house marionette's, pieces ofsceneryjand an arch from which "a: stagelsetting may beconstructed, saidcontainer havingcompartments adapted to, receive said pieces of sceneryand said arch, a part of said container being' designed to constitutethe floor of the stage, andineans onsaid part 12, A toy theatrecomprising a fcontainer, a plurality of compartments therein adapted tocontain and house marionettes, a knock 'doWn arch comprising detachableside and top members, a compartment in said container for receiving themembers of said arch, scenic pieces for use in constructing a stagesetting, compartment for containing and housing said scenic pieces,means on said hinged cover for supporting said scenic ieces, and meanson said cover for detachab y supporting said arch when assembled.

5. A toy theatre comprising a container having a hinged cover adaptedWhen opened to constitute the floor of the stage, a knockdown archcomprisingfdetachable side and said container having a top members, acompartment in said container for receiving the members of said arch,scenic pieces for use in constructinga stagesetting, said containerhaving a compartment for containing and housing said scenic pieces,means on said hinged cover for supporting said scenic pieces, and meanson said cover for detachably supporting said arch when assembled, saidcontainer having a plurality of compartments adapted to receive andhouse a plurality of marionettes.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

BERNIGE MAUD MARQUIS.

